Freshman phenom David Thompson's scorching start has Miami undefeated

CORAL GABLES — Miami baseball coach Jim Morris has mentored some of college baseball's best players in his 19 years at the helm of the Hurricanes, but not one has started their college career as Morris' No. 4 hitter until this season.

Ryan Braun and Pat Burrell both left lasting power-hitter legacies in Coral Gables, but not even they started their careers in the cleanup role.

For all their accolades and successes, they weren't David Thompson.

Morris tabbed the freshman to bat cleanup in his college debut Feb. 16 against Rutgers, and the slugger hasn't relinquished the role since. Thompson has started in all nine of Miami's games this season, smacking six doubles and a homer, driving in 14 runs and amassing an on-base percentage of .371.

Learning curve? Not for Thompson. It's the rest of college baseball that has had to adapt to the Hurricanes' fantastic freshman.

On Friday, Thompson again will be batting cleanup as the 9-0, No. 20 Hurricanes travel to Gainesville for a series against in-state rival Florida in a battle of two of the nation's best college baseball programs.

"We knew he could hit," Morris said. "[But] I didn't expect him to have 12 RBIs in six games. I don't think anyone did."

But Thompson's impressive start to his college baseball career shouldn't be all that surprising. At Miami's Westminster Christian, the 6-foot-2, 205-pound third baseman shattered school and state records.

Thompson's mark of 19 homers in a season and 55 in a prep career broke the highs set by fellow Westminster alum Alex Rodriguez.

That had scouts buzzing. Thompson was pegged as a first-round prospect for the 2012 MLB Draft, but it was his football talent that kept him from going pro in baseball.

The joke around the Miami baseball team is that Thompson is Morris' favorite player, not because of his ability, but because of his scholarship. Technically, Thompson's education is paid for by Al Golden and the Hurricanes' football team, who recruited him as a quarterback.

Thanks to an agreement between Golden and Morris, Thompson can play baseball instead of practicing with the football team in the spring. For Morris, who has run into trouble with the baseball team's limited scholarships, every run batted in by the freshman is an early Christmas gift.

Thompson didn't play football this past season, he had to take a redshirt as he rehabbed from a June surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right, throwing shoulder, an injury he played through his senior season at Westminster.

During that rehab, Thompson re-tooled his swing, and he credits the offseason hitting sessions — even the ones where he could only swing with one arm — as the catalyst of his torrid start.

"I never learned so much about approach at the plate," Thompson said.

Those sessions also gave Morris confidence in Thompson. The Hurricanes only hit 38 home runs last year, and then lost Peter O'Brien, who turned pro. Morris badly needed someone to solidify the middle of the lineup for 2013. He took a chance on Thompson, hoping the Braun-like player he saw at Westminster would quickly adapt to the college level.

The comparisons aren't a fluke. Thompson's favorite player is Braun. He's modeled his swing after the Brewers' star, and if Braun's No. 8 would have been available, he would have taken it. Thompson can blame former Nova star Michael Broad for having to wear No. 19.

Could lightning strike twice at the Light?

"It's hard to project what a guy is going to do," Morris said. "You don't really know for sure what the guy is going to do at the next level, but Braun can hit, Burrell can hit and David Thompson can hit."